Retired farmer, 101, reunited with first tractor

MONTMORENCI, Ind. (AP) — It was 1935 when Gene Leak, then
23, got his first tractor — a 1930 four-wheel-drive Massey Harris — for $700.

“We got that tractor almost at cost,” Leak, now 101,
recalled. “You worked any shenanigans you could think of (to get a good deal).”

Leak sold the tractor three years later, shortly before he
purchased his own farmland in Warren County. He never imagined that decades
later he’d come to own the tractor once more.

On Nov. 18, a surprised Leak walked out the doors of
GreenTree Assisted Living to find the tractor parked alongside a sign reading,
“Happy 101st Birthday, G’pa Gene.”

Amy Booher, Leak’s granddaughter, and her husband, A.J.,
tracked down and purchased the tractor. They bought it for $12,500 and put
$1,100 into getting it running again.

“It had been running, but it had been setting for 25 years,”
A.J. Booher told the Journal &
Courier.

Leak began farming at a time when most farmers were just
beginning to trade horses for horsepower. He worked the night shift from 6 p.m.
to 6 a.m. on a family farm, carrying a gas lantern because the crank-start
tractor had no lights.

The cleats on the tractor tires weren’t easy to maneuver
over long distances, and he was acquiring more land. So in 1937 he sold the
tractor to a farmer who lived east of Attica.

The tractor remained near Attica until 1976, when that owner
sold it to a farmer near Battle Ground.

Meanwhile, Leak’s life went on. He started his own farm in
1939, buying more than 200 acres at $100 an acre. As the economy surged during
World War II, Leak was able to pay off all the debt by 1945.

In the mid-’80s, Leak attended a tractor show in Boswell.
Noticing a tractor that he thought was the same model as his first, he inquired
about the tractor’s past.

“The original owner was named Gene Leak,” the owner said.

“Well, I’m Gene Leak,” Leak replied.

Leak forgot about the tractor for a time. Time marched on.
His wife of 75 years, Vivian, passed away.

Earlier this year, A.J. Booher contacted the Massey-Harris
tractor’s Battle Ground owner, who said he’d sold it to a man south of
Lafayette. Booher called him and made a deal.

After restoring the tractor, the Boohers watched Leak take a
spin around the GreenTree parking lot.

“I was shocked,” Leak said. “They said there’s something out
there we want to show you. I walked out there and there’s a crowd around it.”